ASEAN in Good Shape

Manila, Philippines - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) remains in good shape and offers “great opportunities” for growth over the next few years, Asian Development Bank (ADB) chief economist Changyong Rhee said.

He said the Asean nations can compete with the continent’s powerhouses like mainland China and India for economic growth.
“There are great opportunities in the areas of trade, financing and people movement,” Rhee said in a press briefing yesterday.
The Asean groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Rhee said these opportunities arose from the weakening of the developed nations, particularly in the euro zone and the United States, and the “softening” of the Asian majors such as mainland China, India and Hong Kong.
He said the sustained strong growth of China in the past few years has made it unattractive to foreign investments due to higher production and labor costs, putting Asean into the radar screen of foreign investors and locators.
The opportunities include capturing the coastal production sites and foreign investments that are looking for options outside of China, the ADB economist said.
The ADB consistently had been urging nations like the Philippines to make itself attractive to foreign investors and locators looking for alternatives outside China.
ADB country director for the Philippines Neeraj Jain said the country can experience greater economic growth if it can attract more foreign investors and locators with emphasis on labor-intensive activities.
Jain said that sustainable growth for the country must go beyond the billions of dollars from remittances of overseas Filipinos and the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.
The full implementation of the Asean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) by 2015 will also increase intra-regional and inter-regional trade, he added.
Tariff liberalization started in 2010 leading to full tariff reduction and liberalization by 2015.
Last year, the average intra-tariff rate for the Asean-6 countries was reduced to 0.05 percent from 3.64 percent in 2000. The six nations are founding members Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.
Intra-Asean trade grew over 33 percent in 2010, or from $1.5 trillion in 2009 to $2 trillion. The Philippines alone reported a 30-percent growth in intra-Asean trade in the same period.
Also working in favor of strong growth in Asia is the crisis resolutions and prevention mechanisms being put in place by regional leaders as well as multilateral agencies such as the ADB and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Meanwhile, Rhee said that they have not changed its outlook for Asia and the Philippines.
The ADB forecast that the region would grow by 6.9 percent this year, and 4.8 percent for the Philippines. “There is no pressing reason for us to change our original forecasts despite the uncertainties caused by the debt crisis in the euroe zone,” he said. - By Ted P. Torres (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com) 

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Great opportunities, this will surely happen and I think is already happening in our economy (ASEAN). This is due to the weakening of Euro zone and the United States, and the softening of Major countries in Asia.  Surely, opportunities in trade, financing and people movement will arise in Asean countries. With what's happening in Europe and the United states, I think we should grab the opportunity of making our country attractive to foreign investors. We should show them that we are capable and determined in handling businesses/investments/trades and economic activities. Also, with the full implementation of Asean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) by 2015, this will help our country in engaging trade in a lot of countries and keep us in good shape. I think even then, the Philippines and Asean countries already had these great opportunities, it's just that we lack effective strategies in how to handle such opportunities/activities, that's why we are not able to make it to the top. Now is the time that we should rise and make it happen. We must keep moving and improving.

Rising fuel, power cost

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - Filipino consumers will just have to live with rising fuel and electricity prices, according to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

"(Filipinos) and no one else should be paying more for their electric consumption and petroleum purchases, Enrile said in an interview with dzBB radio on Sunday.
There's nothing you can do about it. Who will pay (for higher power rates), the Lord? We should experience hardships to learn," the senator said.
Enrile lashed out at those peddling theories and warning of an impending revolt, taking unnamed critics to task for spreading speculations and blabbering, engaging in debates and finger-pointing."
We should face the problem head-on, shunning useless talk. We should do our job. All of us should sacrifice for the country, and not just think of ourselves," he said.
The Philippine Palace should not be blamed for its inability to forestall the power crisis in Mindanao, the senator said.
It is too late to blame anyone in and outside of government for the rotating brown-outs in Mindanao," he said.
He even branded as foolishness the bills now pending in Congress seeking to grant emergency powers to President Benigno Aquino III, or reducing the value-added tax on fuel.
We don't need that that's foolishness. They talk of emergency powers, what can the President do (with them)? He has too many powers. He's the Chief Executive of the country. He can borrow money, negotiate contracts, he can deal with other countries to solve (the power problems)," said Enrile.
Enrile believes the Philippines erred in refusing to tap nuclear power as an alternative source of electricity.
We dont want nuclear power, we are afraid to die (from nuclear accidents). We thought we will live forever that is not the case. Other countries are prospering because they took a chance at using nuclear power, we (aren't) because we have (this) backward thinking," he said.
We have to take a chance in life. We can't be 100 per cent safe. There's always a margin of risk in life," he said.
The first Aquino administration in 1986 mothballed the Marcos-era Bataan Nuclear Power Plant over safety concerns and because the contract for it was attended by corruption. But the government did not provide for alternative power sources to replace what the BNPP would have produced, which was a direct cause of the dreadful Luzon power crisis in the 1990s.
To remedy the situation in Mindanao, Enrile said he supported the government decision to deploy mobile power barges while the Agus and Napindan dams, the main sources of hydroelectric power in the island, are being fixed.
"(We should) find other sources of hydro-power in Mindanao and if necessary put up coal-fired power plants," he said. Well have to do it. There's no other way unless we use our trees for fuel," he said.

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Mindanao is currently experiencing power crisis but, other people still have the time on spreading speculations and blabbering, engaging in debates on who is to blame for such problem. Since the problem has already occur, I think it is best for us to just think and look for necessary solutions instead of pointing and blaming others (in and outside government ) for the inability to forestall the power crisis in Mindanao. Still, the government must take fast action to remedy such problem because a lot is being affected in this crisis like business establishments, schools, household stuffs and the like.This problem also happened before and I think government must really have the proper, right and stable solution so that power shortages will not happen again. As of the moment, I think we should just go with the alternatives such as the tap nuclear power as a source of electricity, as long as it does not have any harmful effects on human.